Some of the world's most important leaders have traveled to Israel during the war, which entered its fifth month this Wednesday. But Argentine President Javier Milei's visit is the most pleasant the Israeli government has ever experienced. A balm for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in difficult times. “We cannot remain silent in the face of modern National Socialism, which is now disguised as the terrorist group Hamas,” said Milei during his visit to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. The president called for the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by the Islamist group, but made no mention of the deaths of nearly 28,000 Gazans at the hands of Israeli troops. In his speech, he followed the line drawn by Netanyahu himself during the current contest, who had already said: “Hamas are the new Nazis.”
The Prime Minister had earlier given a warm welcome to his guest, unaware of the turbulent times the country is going through, the statement released said. “You are a great friend of the Jewish state. “We are pleased with your decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the diplomatic team and of course the embassy there,” Netanyahu told the Argentine president. This new headquarters of the legation, although already announced, is the most important step of the visit and the new relations between the two countries. The head of Israel's executive branch expressed his desire for “prosperity, security and peace” without elaborating on the armed conflict that has broken out since the massacre of around 1,200 people in Israel by Hamas on October 7th and how it is always being managed becomes more complicated.
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“As I admire the dark images of the Holocaust, I wonder where the free world was then. And today I'm asking myself the exact same question again. “Where is the voice of the free world that demands and demands the release of the more than 100 abductees in Gaza?” said Javier Milei, referring to one of the most sensitive issues facing the Israeli authorities in this war. Never before in its 75-year history has the country faced such a heinous attack or such a high number of hostages in the current war situation. More than 100 of the approximately 240 people captured on October 7 were released as part of a ceasefire at the end of November. But these days, according to the Israeli authorities, there are still around 130 people in the Palestinian enclave, 31 of whom are already dead. Among them, nine are of Argentine origin, an important community in Israel.
“It is the first time I am visiting Israel and this museum. Today my eyes and heart saw images of some of the darkest moments in human history. But I see opposites, inside the museum I see destruction and death, while outside I see the opposite extreme, reconstruction and life,” said Milei, commenting on the second of his three-day official visit to Israel, the first bilateral visit to a foreign country after that, which was devastating the presidential elections last November. This Thursday he wants to travel to Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the sites where Hamas carried out the massacre on October 7th.
Freedom and life were the terms that the Argentine president repeated most often at the lectern. Milei's slogan, “Long live freedom, damn it!”, has become so famous that even a group of schoolchildren visiting the museum shouted it as they watched the procession. It was already heard on Tuesday evening when Milei, who makes no secret of his desire to convert to Judaism, went to the Western Wall in the old Israeli-occupied area of East Jerusalem. There he wept emotionally and was given a warm bath by citizens, many of whom were of Argentine origin.
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The extermination of six million people in World War II was the trigger for the birth of the crime of genocide. On these pillars and on the foundation of Nazi barbarism, the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum was built. Today, in the shadow of the more than 28,000 Palestinian victims killed by Israeli troops in Gaza, the international community has brought the term back to the table. At the end of January, the International Court of Justice based in The Hague found it “plausible” that Israel was committing acts in the Palestinian Strip that constituted this international crime. This institution demanded that the authorities and the army take measures to prevent genocide against the Palestinians now.
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